An entry in the Closer Look At series is too cluttered in design and often too vague to be useful. A few brief, disjointed paragraphs and a single spread are devoted to such complex topics as tsunamis, river flooding, and typhoons. The text makes proclamations without further explanations, e.g., “flooding is one of the most destructive natural disasters,” but Flaherty does not subsequently and clearly explain its causes (excessive building or dredging, the destruction of wetlands, loss of trees, etc.). The section devoted to countermeasures mentions reforestation, but emphasizes building dikes, coastal concrete walls, and shelters to house people displaced by flood. That dates the title, as scientists and specialists in land use currently discourage the building of dikes and re-channeling bodies of water. (diagrams, chronology, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-7613-0866-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Copper Beech/Millbrook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1998
The Pumpkin Book (32 pp.; $16.95; Sept. 15; 0-8234-1465-5): From seed to vine and blossom to table, Gibbons traces the growth cycle of everyone’s favorite autumn symbol—the pumpkin. Meticulous drawings detail the transformation of tiny seeds to the colorful gourds that appear at roadside stands and stores in the fall. Directions for planting a pumpkin patch, carving a jack-o’-lantern, and drying the seeds give young gardeners the instructions they need to grow and enjoy their own golden globes. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1465-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
Who is next in the ocean food chain? Pallotta has a surprising answer in this picture book glimpse of one curious boy. Danny, fascinated by plankton, takes his dory and rows out into the ocean, where he sees shrimp eating those plankton, fish sand eels eating shrimp, mackerel eating fish sand eels, bluefish chasing mackerel, tuna after bluefish, and killer whales after tuna. When an enormous humpbacked whale arrives on the scene, Danny’s dory tips over and he has to swim for a large rock or become—he worries’someone’s lunch. Surreal acrylic illustrations in vivid blues and red extend the story of a small boy, a small boat, and a vast ocean, in which the laws of the food chain are paramount. That the boy has been bathtub-bound during this entire imaginative foray doesn’t diminish the suspense, and the facts Pallotta presents are solidly researched. A charming fish tale about the one—the boy—that got away. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88106-075-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
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